Mariners’ epic comeback wasted in 11-inning loss to Diamondbacks

PHOENIX — Three weeks ago, the Mariners the ballpark in Chicago after beating the White Sox eight games above .500 with an offense that was still holding up, the lead in the American League West and winners of four straight games.

In the time since, the M’s have lost 13 of 19, are currently in a slump losing six of the last seven and no matter the amount of fight or resolve they show the results say something needs to change. And soon.

The latest setback belongs in Mariners lore. Shutout for the first 26 outs of the game, the Mariners scored four runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning on Monday night to force extra innings. Dominic Canzone, just called up from the minors, hit a two-run home run to tie the game against his former team. It should be a moment remembered for the clutch swing and the most inexplicable of rallies.

Instead, it’s a footnote. Because it’s the Mariners. And because they were unable to score any more in the ninth. Or the 10th. Or the 11th. And then watched as Josh Naylor rounded the bases in celebration after hitting a walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the 11th to give the Arizona Diamondbacks an 8-4 win before 22,799 at Chase Field.

Gut punches don’t get much heavier than what Naylor delivered for a struggling ballclub that now sits at 33-32 on the season.

“You just want to come out with the victory there and get back on the right track,” Canzone said. “I know we’ve been struggling a little bit. It would have been a huge (win) to get.”

Painful losses have been too common of late for the M’s. And while manager Dan Wilson continues to laud the resolve of his group that’s only a benefit if it comes along with wins.

For most of Monday night, it appeared to be another game where the M’s offense chose to be absent, which made the fact it ended up in extra innings an absurd conclusion.

“We were fairly quiet offensively until the ninth inning where we got some really big hits,” Wilson said.

The Mariners rally in the ninth started with an unfortunate break. Arizona pitcher Justin Martinez recorded the first two outs of the ninth with overpowering strikeouts of Jorge Polanco and Randy Arozarena.

He walked Dylan Moore but that was OK. It was still a 4-0 game.

But everything changed after Martinez summoned an athletic trainer from the Arizona dugout after throwing a 1-0 pitch to Donovan Solano and left with an apparent arm injury.

Jeff Brigham entered and in a series of 14 pitches it all fell apart.

Solano’s single scored Moore after he took second base on defensive indifference. Cole Young singled and Solano scored after he did the same as Moore taking second without a throw.

That set the stage for Canzone. The last time he played in this ballpark, it was late July 2023. He was a Diamondback. He was playing against the Mariners.

Brigham grooved a 3-2 fastball belt high and Canzone put it 450 feet into the right field seats, setting off a wild celebration in the M’s dugout and for the many Seattle fans dotting the seats. It was the longest homer of the season for the M’s, which is saying something considering some of the shots Cal Raleigh has hit.

“Obviously the hollow feeling that every hitter loves and then just to do it against the former team, obviously want to get the win there,” Canzone said. “Tough ending but cool moment.”

Canzone’s swing was the end of any celebration. Raleigh hit a tapper in front of home plate for the final out of the ninth with J.P. Crawford at second base. In the 10^th, Raleigh never moved from second base as the automatic runner as Polanco (fly out), Arozarena (fly out) and Moore (strikeout) couldn’t come through.

Arizona threatened in the bottom of the 10^th, but Cole Young made a lunging stop and threw home in time to get Ildemaro Vargas who was called out for going out of the baseline to avoid Raleigh’s tag.

The M’s had a chance in the 11^th, but Moore didn’t tag up on Solano’s shallow fly ball and if he had could have possibly scored when Young grounded out. Instead Moore was left standing at third as Canzone was called out on strikes on a pitch that appeared high.

Wilson agreed with Moore’s decision not to risk getting thrown out at third base.

In the bottom of the 11^th, the M’s asked Carlos Vargas to work a second inning of relief. Andrés Muñoz worked the ninth and Wilson said Matt Brash was available, meaning he was likely being held for if the M’s took the lead.

But that never happened. Vargas intentionally walked Ketel Marte, did not intentionally walk Geraldo Perdomo to load the bases and then left a cutter elevated to Naylor.

“It’s tricky to navigate those situations but I thought our guys threw the ball very well in those tight and high-leverage situations,” Wilson said.

Lost in the rally is the M’s were on the verge of once again having little to no offense to back their pitching. Until Canzone’s swing, the M’s were on the cusp of failing to score more than three runs for the 12th time in 19 games, which coincided with their slide out of first place and back toward .500.

The night started ominously for the M’s after Seattle native Corbin Carroll hit a solo home run off the top of the wall on the first pitch of the game from Emerson Hancock. Marte, a former Mariner, added an RBI single in the fifth, the only runs the D-backs got off Hancock.

Arizona scored twice more off Casey Legumina in the seventh but that was all the D-backs managed.

Hancock wasn’t as sharp as his last start against Baltimore but allowed only two runs over five innings and made another strong case that when Logan Gilbert is ready to rejoin the rotation that Hancock should remain as one of the five.

Hancock (2-3) has allowed two earned runs or less in eight of his 11 starts this season and worked at least five innings in all of those but one. They’re not dominant numbers but they’re more than serviceable if viewing them through the lens of being a No. 5 starter in a deep rotation.

Hancock went heavy with his fastball against the D-backs, throwing 66 combined four-seam fastballs and sinkers among his 85 pitches. He’d used the pair roughly 60% of the time this season, but upped that to 77% against Arizona.

It seemed to work. Carroll’s home run on the first pitch of the game and Marte’s two-out single in the fifth inning were the only times Arizona scored off Hancock. He escaped trouble later in the fifth leaving the bases loaded after getting former Mariner — and maybe in their hopes and wishes future Mariner — Eugenio Suárez looking to end the threat.

Hancock struck out three and walked three.

“We don’t quit. We kept fighting. That last inning was unreal,” Hancock said. “We got a bunch of fighters in there and we fought until the very last out. It’s baseball. Tomorrow is a new day and we’re going to give them everything we got and keep competing.”

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